Chapter 21

Sabine POV

At first, the death of Gar Saxon had been considered a major victory for the Mandalorian clans. After the news had reached them, many clans had been quick to join Clan Kryze's side in the coming war, but they had underestimated the wrath of the Empire.

Gar Saxon's death had caused the Empire to react swiftly and brutally, placing Gar's brother Tiber Saxon as the new governor of Mandalore and beginning to attack each of the individual Mandalorian clans to ensure their submission. Clans Kryze, Ordo, and Cadera had been forced to temporarily abandon their home planets, unable to hold off the power of the Empire, and their forces were now slowly amassing on Concord Dawn, the devastated home planet of the now all but destroyed Protectors. And still, Tiber Saxon continued to push endlessly against the other clans, trying to muscle them out of their territories.

Their plans to go to Mandalore had been greatly delayed, but still, everyone seemed to hold onto their faith in one thing: The Darksaber. Sabine didn't understand how the weapon could hold such influence among their people. It was only a sword, after all, albeit an artifact with great historic significance, but she didn't like the way that so few people questioned it.

Personally, she was following Ezra, not the sword. Over the past few weeks, he'd taken to carrying it around in his hands more often, trying to project confidence and leadership, but Sabine could tell that the burden of that sword was a struggle for him to carry. She tried to make it easier for him in any way she could, but with every loss they suffered, he became more and more distant and distracted. He almost never removed his helmet anymore, and Sabine thought that he was even taking short power naps during meetings. It was clear to her that the stress of leading his people, when he was completely unfamiliar with it, was getting to him.

Not to mention, he hadn't discussed meeting his father once since they had returned from Tatooine. They had stuck around just long enough to ensure that Maul wasn't coming back, and then Ezra had flown them around the planet until they found Maul's Gauntlet, the Nightbrother.

He had set them down and told Sabine that she could take Maul's ship for her own, but it would need a new paint job and name. Sabine had excitedly agreed without a second thought. But shortly after getting back to Kalevala, she had noticed that Ezra had seemingly completely forgotten about their trip to Tatooine, and she began to wonder if he had just wanted to fly alone for a while to avoid conversation.

Still, she could hardly believe that Ezra had offered her a ship to call her own. He seemed to give her a lot of gifts, she noticed. Not that she needed him to. But between the Nightbrother, the jetpack, and a pair of his own fully-equipped Mandalorian vambraces, she felt like he was giving her far more than she knew how to repay.

Sabine opened her eyes as she sat up from where she layed on her bed in her room in the Absolution's captain's quarters. Even if she had her own ship now, she preferred sleeping here for several reasons. First, she didn't really want to sleep in a ship that had once been owned by Maul. The whole place gave her a certain… uncomfortable feeling. She planned to thoroughly sanitize the entire ship soon to remove all traces of Maul's presence, but first she wanted to finish repainting it. When it was finished, it was going to be mostly white with lines of yellow running down the wings to evoke Clan Wren, and also subtly remind her of her other home, the Ghost, which was similarly colored.

The second reason for Sabine wanting to stay here was because she had slept in this room for a long time, almost every time she had gone anywhere in this ship on a trip that took multiple days.

And the final reason was that she just wanted to be close to Ezra. Ever since she had left Atollon to go with him, she had preferred to spend almost all of her time with him. When they slept, they had always been either in the same ship or right across the hall from one another. She knew by now that he wasn't the most open person, but she could tell that he was struggling with some personal things and she wanted to be there for him. He'd always been there for her, even before they'd been dating or even been friends.

Speaking of, she still wanted to find a way to repay him for the gifts he'd given her. She looked around her room but ultimately found nothing that really stood out to her. A few weeks ago, she'd had his armor to fix the paint on it after the sandstorm on Tatooine had damaged it. Now, she wished that she had perhaps done something more to it, maybe added something special.

She looked over to her own armor, wondering if maybe she could put some symbol of his on it, but there were no clear spaces. She even considered possibly removing one of her own symbols, but decided that she couldn't bear to do it. The stylized number "5" on her right shoulder represented her place in the Ghost crew, her other family. The convor on the left shoulder pauldron was a memorial to their fallen friend, Ahsoka, who had always been followed around by one of those things. The rest of the symbols on her armor were all similarly important to her. Besides, what symbol of Ezra's would she use? The Darksaber? Not likely.

She picked up her datapad full of art notes and began to look through her more recent entries, searching for inspiration. Finally, she smiled as she thought she found the perfect thing. She didn't know how much Ezra would appreciate it. It certainly didn't compare to all that he'd given her. But it would be done with affection and care in mind, and that was really all that Sabine knew how to offer.

Line Break

A few hours later, Sabine donned her helmet before walking out of the ship in search of Ezra.

The Mandalorian base on Concord Dawn was bustling with activity. There were armored Mandalorians carrying supplies back and forth, droids preparing meals for tired soldiers to grab a bite of as they went by, and most commonly, soldiers sparring with one another in small groups or doing target practice.

Looking around, Sabine viewed dozens of large tents set up in the clearing, and several Mandalorian scouts stood watchfully on top of the surrounding cliffs. Normally, they would prefer to place their encampment on high ground, but knowing the likelihood of an attacking Empire attempting to use jetpacking Mandalorians, probe droids, or even an orbital bombardment meant that they had instead positioned themselves in a low valley, well out of sight and range, with a constant sentry system in place to warn of threats.

However, their greatest strength was their fleet. The complete combined fleets of three Mandalorian clans as well as additional ships and soldiers from each of the other clans had given them quite the large amount of firepower in the air, mostly comprised of Kom'rks but also including Talon fighters and stolen Imperial vehicles. Most Mandalorians were living inside the Kom'rks, but some were also inside the tents, though the tents were mostly used for other necessities such as medical bays, war council rooms, and cafeterias.

Sabine walked towards one of the tents that was serving as the main War Council Center, suspecting that Ezra would be in there. He often was. She was proven correct as she walked in to see Ezra, Lady Kryze, and the leaders of Clans Ordo and Cadera gathered around a large, circular hologram table. Ezra had his arms folded and was the only one present wearing his helmet as Sabine entered, and she noticed that he also had the hilt of the Darksaber in hand as he closely examined a hologram image of their own camp.

Count Ordo pointed towards the center of their camp and said in a deep voice, "We should tell them to land here, next to Clan Kryze's zone. There's an open space there, and they possess some of the greatest firepower we have, just below Kryze. We should place out strongest forces all right in the center."

Bo pointed at a different part of the map and argued, "No, we should place them here, by the cliff face. If we get attacked, they can fly out from the rear and flank the enemy. They don't have many Kom'rks with them, but they're used to using their jetpacks to stop ships from trying to land in their territory."

Ezra looked at the map closely for another moment, then said, "The Empire is smarter than that. They wouldn't attack us with just a few fighters. Count Ordo is correct. We should tell them to land in the center, but place them across the clearing from Clan Kryze so that they can still flank if they go for our strongest point, or they can reinforce if the Empire attacks our weaker divisions."

And just like that, the argument was over. Count Ordo bowed to Ezra appreciatively and Countess Cadera nodded in agreement. Lady Bo seemed a bit miffed that her suggestion had been denied, but she bowed her head in silent submission.

The Count and Countess Ordo and Cadera both exited the tent, and Sabine stepped forward and commented, "You're not a bad leader, Ez."

Ezra turned to face her and responded, "I think I'm getting better at it. I hope so."

Lady Bo turned to look at Sabine and scowled before she turned to Ezra to say, "Until later, my son."

Then she walked out of the room without giving Sabine another glance, leaving her feeling uncomfortable. "Your mother still doesn't like me," Sabine told Ezra.

He turned back to the table and pulled up a hologram of the Mandalore capital city, Sundari. "Give her time. She'll come around," he said, but Sabine wasn't so convinced. She didn't like the idea of her boyfriend's mother disapproving of her, and Ezra's dismissive reaction wasn't particularly helpful either.

Ezra continued, "Your mother will arrive soon, Sabine, you may want to prepare to greet her."

Surprised, Sabine asked, "My mother's coming here?"

Ezra nodded. "Clan Wren should be arriving within the next few minutes. In the meantime, did you want to talk to me about something?"

Sabine smiled and stepped up to his side before she touched his arm, pulling him from his work to look at her, and she took off her helmet, revealing that Sabine had slightly changed her hair again. It was still the platinum blonde with purple tips look, but she had now added distinct blue outlines along the purple, and small lines of the same blue running through the locks on the side of her head.

Ezra froze at the sight, but Sabine couldn't see his expression beneath his helmet. Shyly, Sabine told him, "I know it's not much, but… it's the same color as your eyes. I wanted to do something to repay you for all the gifts you've given me since we met. I thought you might like it if I… made you a part of me."

Ezra slowly raised a hand to touch her hair, examining it closely and quietly said, "Oh, Sabine…" He pulled off his helmet and continued, "The things I gave you… I gave them to you because I thought you could use them. And because I care about you. You didn't have to do anything to repay me for them."

Sabine smirked and said, "I know. I wanted to. But… Do you like it?"

Suddenly, to her surprise, Ezra leaned in and kissed her deeply. It was their first kiss since they had gone to Tatooine, but Sabine thought that this one was even better when it was done out of affection rather than out of fear of losing one another.

After Ezra pulled away, he whispered, "I love it. And I love you, Sabine Wren."

Sabine tensed up at his words, and he quickly backed away further to say nervously, "Er… I'm sorry, did I say that out loud? Was that too soon? I'm so sorry, Sabine, I'm such an idiot, I just-"

Sabine cut him off by leaning in to claim his mouth in another deep kiss, and she whispered back, "I think I love you too, Ezra Kryze. And please, don't ever stop being an idiot around me."

Sabine felt Ezra smile, and she finally pulled back to hear him beg, "Can I please marry you now?"

Sabine smiled and kissed him on the cheek before saying, "Not yet, Ez'ika. Now, I'm gonna go greet my mother. You can join me if you want, or you can keep playing with maps." And with that, Sabine pulled herself out of Ezra's arms and began to exit. Wanting to make sure that he did indeed follow her rather than stay buried in his work, she put a little extra seductive sway in her hips as she walked out the door, feeling his eyes follow her the whole way.

Sabine walked out to the central clearing to the place where Ezra had said that her clan would arrive, and then she crossed her arms and waited.

Ezra arrived at the same time that Sabine saw the first Clan Wren ships coming out of the clouds. He donned his helmet as he stepped up beside Sabine and complained, "You're a mean tease, you know that?"

Sabine just nodded and said, "That's my job as your girlfriend, Ez."

She saw him shake his head and folded his own arms over his chest as he looked up at the approaching ships, and Sabine noticed that he still had the Darksaber in hand. Rolling her eyes, Sabine said, "Ezra, will you put that thing down? You've been holding onto that sword for days."

Ezra looked down like he was just realizing that he was carrying the Darksaber, then looked back at Sabine and responded, "Mandalore needs to unite behind the Darksaber, so I need to show everyone that I still have it. If possible, I hope to also convince people that I have some idea of what to do with it."

Sabine huffed and reached over and grabbed the Darksaber from his hand. He stepped forward to protest, but Sabine just clipped it to the front of his belt and said, "If you want to show it off, fine. Apparently our people are so consumed by tradition that this stupid sword actually means more to them than any real leadership. But stop carrying it in your hand everywhere. My mother is going to be difficult enough without having to hear her ramble on about my boyfriend's new favorite weapon."

Ezra tilted his head at her and argued, "It is not my favorite weapon. I barely know what I'm doing with it, and there's still the added downside of the fact that this thing… you know."

Sabine placed a hand on his shoulder and said gently, "All the more reason not to be holding it everywhere you go. It's not healthy."

Ezra remained silent for a moment, watching the Clan Wren ships finally come in to land within their defensive formation, then changed the topic as he commented, "So… Countess Wren knows about our… new relationship. But according to Kanan's message a few weeks ago, you haven't been in regular contact with your rebel friends. Why do I get the feeling that they don't know?"

Sabine bit her lip and said, "I haven't told them yet. I wanted… I want to tell them in person."

Ezra looked steadily ahead and asked, "Are you embarrassed by me? If so, maybe they don't have to know."

Sabine glared over at him and sternly said, "Ezra Kryze, you should know better. I am not embarrassed by you. But my rebel family doesn't understand our traditions. And the first time they met you, you were wearing the Imperial symbol and kidnapping me. If I tell them that we went from fighting each other to dating after only knowing each other for a few months… Well, non-Mandos probably wouldn't understand."

Ezra nodded in understanding and sighed. "You're right. I'm sorry."

"No apology needed, Ez. But never think that I'm embarrassed by you again, understood?" Sabine responded forcefully as they watched the first Wren Kom'rk lower its ramp.

The Countess Wren walked down the ramp, flanked by four of her soldiers as Ezra answered without turning to look at Sabine, "Yes, ma'am."

A/N: An entire chapter of nothing but Sabine's POV! The next will pick up right where this one ended, but we'll get a bit more of Ezra's POV, and I think it'll be quite fun! Thanks for reading!